The present invention relates to railway tank cars and, in particular, to lifting structure therefor. The AAR Specifications for Tank Cars, standard S-234 of the Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices, requires that all tank cars be equipped with four lifting lugs in or around the bolster for the purpose of attaching hooks to lift the tank vertically. Typically, lifting devices on existing tank cars are placed along the bottom of the bolster near the jacking pad, i.e., adjacent to the bottommost and laterally outermost corners of the bolster. This location is at a maximum distance from the center of the tank. Therefore, the lifting moments are maximized during a lifting operation, which tends to put undue strain on the bolster and sometimes requires additional gusseting to distribute the forces transmitted to the tank shell. Furthermore, most prior lifting devices comprise additional attachments to the bolster.